I'm probably insensitive, out-of-touch.... (now with Karma Update)

[Chad]

If stretching your fingers across a wide board cause pain, it might be the angle of your wrist, not the stretch.

Try raising your strap a notch, or if you're playing sitting down, use the classical sitting position instead of horizontally across your thigh.

It is my wrist position, but it got worse when I raised my strap. When I used to play with my guitar low, my wrist was fine. I think it has to do with my reach. With the strap up high, the headstock is further away from my natural grasp.

 

[BlockInlay]

It takes time, patience, and practice to build up the coordination and strength to do various chord shapes.

 

[MonkeyZero]

On acoustic it's likely the set up. On electric, you're just being a baby.

 

[smorgdonkey]

I have large hands and have no problem with F now but when I first started playing it took me weeks to get all of the notes to ring out clearly. It has to do with ligament and tendon flexibility & strength as much as it has to do with the strength of the tiny muscles in the fingers I suppose.

 

[Gary Blanchard]

I have large hands and have no problem with F now but when I first started playing it took me weeks to get all of the notes to ring out clearly. It has to do with ligament and tendon flexibility & strength as much as it has to do with the strength of the tiny muscles in the fingers I suppose.

Great observation. It has been too many years ago, but I do remember that my hand didn't seem to want to go in that position. As someone who began playing guitar by learning basic chords on an acoustic guitar the C and G was fairly comfortable but the F moved my wrist into an odd position that I had to get used to.

 

[baimun]

With my previous statements of chord and finger stretching floating out in the cosmos....


... I am looking into the @Mark Wein paraffin wax bath for my hands again. I have been waking up more and more frequently with stiff, achy hands that won't bend into a fist, let alone allow me to jump out of bed and play guitar.

As with most of us here, I would like to be able to play guitar for as many years as possible, but as my weedly-weedly days of youth have transformed into funky rhythm and brief fills.... I fear my guitar playing in the not that distant future may be more tightly clustered chords if I'm able to continue playing at all. :( I'll play .008's on a strandberg if I have to... or I'll be tapping out chords on a Midi drum pad with my arthritic flippers like a Rock Hopper Penguin on Acid.

Baimun's potential future spirit animal.

 

[BlockInlay]

Maybe you need a puffin bath instead of parrafin?

All yolks aside, the heat bath is an excellent idea but you should also research some effective stretching and strengthening techniques for the muscles in your hands and forearms. Proper massage helps too.

 

[Chicken Man]

"Old players not understanding new players struggling with an F chord" is the new "Boomers not understanding why millennials can't afford a house".

 

[baimun]

"Old players not understanding new players struggling with an F chord" is the new "Boomers not understanding why millennials can't afford a house".

Except we don’t have an entire industry making the necks wider with longer scale lengths until the young generation throws their hands in the air, and succumbs to the realization that the game is rigged against them and they can never win.

Well… you know what I mean.

 

[Andrew Sak]

If you can play a clean F on a Wallmart guitar, you can play a clean F on any guitar.

*I'm assuming the action is high.

 

[Chad]

Except we don’t have an entire industry making the necks wider with longer scale lengths until the young generation throws their hands in the air, and succumbs to the realization that the game is rigged against them and they can never win.

Well… you know what I mean.

There is no way I could play that. I mean I guess I could play it like a lap steel, but that’s about it.

 

[baimun]

Had a band practice with the old trio... those shows are essentially solo gigs, the drummer has the personality and contacts but is now basically deaf in one ear, had his shoulder reconstructed last year... so it was obviously the first time he's touched his drum since our last gig last year... and the bass player is a sweet guy with lots of personality, always shows up on time, and is exactly the kind of bandmate you want. Only issue is... he's not a very good bass player. He's a middling guitar player that was converted to a middling bass player... so he basically follows me and plays the root note of whatevery chord I'm playing... and when he gets lost (very frequently) just does a thunk-thunk-thunk thing. I help him out however I can, give him bass lines, simplify the format of the songs (which is why I get dinged in the other band for playing things the "wrong" way... IE, not the studio way.

HERE is where the Karma comes into play in this particular thread:

I mentioned the arthritic hands I've been dealing with every morning... and I occasionally find my left pinky completely numb or tingly. Probably a pinched nerve in my elbow or tendonitis. I have a sit stand desk and have added extra gels and shit to lay my arm, wrist on... it's more likely caused from resting it on the door or arm rest during all of the 2-5 hour drives I've been doing every week.

So we are 2 or three songs into the practice... and fuck me if I'm not having issues making some of the chords. Thing is, It wasn't simply F... honestly, it wasn't the bar finger.. but all of them.

Part of it is the neck on my Taylor is a smidge on the thin side for me... I never notice this kind of closing-the-hand issue on my ginormous Thorn neck... but I fear that it's an indicator that this is an issue I will have to address for the sake of my Guitar playing. :(

For now, I'm going to squeeze ball exercise my left hand while driving, and make sure I pick up the guitar for at least an hour (if not 2 to 3) every day this month. Probably keep my travel acoustic in the car so I can get in some additional practice time at lunch.

 

[yabba]

Except we don’t have an entire industry making the necks wider with longer scale lengths until the young generation throws their hands in the air, and succumbs to the realization that the game is rigged against them and they can never win.

Well… you know what I mean.

I dunno about an 8 string, but I find it way easier to fret big chords and barre chords low on the neck on a multiscale - the angle it naturally puts your wrist in because of the way the frets are angled down there is much more comfy.

I did have a 7 string multiscale, but finally decided it was still one string too many for me and sold it

 

[rhino]

A lot of times I use my thumb to fret the low string so I can let the high e ring out. It just depends on what else I’m doing

 

[baimun]

I dunno about an 8 string, but I find it way easier to fret big chords and barre chords low on the neck on a multiscale - the angle it naturally puts your wrist in because of the way the frets are angled down there is much more comfy.

I did have a 7 string multiscale, but finally decided it was still one string too many for me and sold it

I had a fanned fret acoustic and currently have a fanned fret electric. Most of time, I find the neck very ergonomic as my fingers tend to point in the direction of the frets as it moves up and down the fingerboard. There are a couple 9th funk chords and some inversions that feel a little odd, but pretty good overall.

 

[Flamencology]

I had a fanned fret acoustic and currently have a fanned fret electric. Most of time, I find the neck very ergonomic as my fingers tend to point in the direction of the frets as it moves up and down the fingerboard. There are a couple 9th funk chords and some inversions that feel a little odd, but pretty good overall.

I mean, if fanned frets didn’t offer some advantages, then they wouldn’t exist.